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Mission, Vision, Goals and Values

Mission

Our mission is to prepare a diverse public health workforce that leads advances in health equity for rural and vulnerable populations through education, scholarship and service.

Vision

We envision a world where well-being is prioritized, and health equity is achieved.

Goals

• Education: To educate students to become public health professionals skilled in promoting health equity and enhancing community well-being.
• Scholarship: To advance public health science and practice through collaborative scholarship.
• Service: To engage in service activities that contribute to community well-being. 
• Diversity: To value diversity as we recruit students, support their educational experiences and co-create our learning environment.

Values

Think Global, Act Local

• Respect for others is manifested through caring interactions and civil discourse.
• Diversity is embraced and valued, believing each community member uniquely contributes to its strengths.
• Advocacy gives voice to health issues and intervenes on behalf of others, especially those who cannot do so for themselves.
• Social justice assures the fair and equitable distribution of opportunities and services and is viewed as the ultimate goal of all public health efforts.

Interprofessional Collaboration and Community Engagement

• Collaboration is characterized by collegial relationships where communication, consensus building and teamwork are valued.
• Engagement involves bi-directional community learning and mobilizes community partners' expertise to solve public health problems.
• Community service reflects our commitment to others and involves actions performed for public benefit or on behalf of organizations to meet community health needs.
• Leadership is viewed as a responsibility of all public health professionals and involves skillful guidance of collective efforts to achieve public health goals.

Evidence-Based Solutions to Complex Health Problems

• Systems thinking is vital for public health professionals to analyze complex health issues and develop multifaceted interventions at various socio-ecological levels across diverse regions.
• Innovation refers to a culture that challenges conventional thinking, leverages technology, encourages transformational change and cultivates creative solutions to public health problems.
• Discovery involves scientific inquiry and scholarship and provides the basis for critique, translation and dissemination of evidence in public health practice.
• High impact refers to the data-driven capacity to analyze public health system operational performance and measurably improve the health of populations.

Important Definitions

• Health

  Health is viewed as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

  World Health Organization. WHO definition of Health, Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.

• Public health

  Public health refers to organized efforts of multidisciplinary teams that promote and protect the health of individuals, families, communities and populations, locally and globally. The core functions of public health include (a) assessment, (b) policy development and (c) assurance that are enacted through the provision of 10 essential public health services.

  1. Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems. (a)
  2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community. (a)
  3. Inform, educate and empower people about health issues. (c)
  4. Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems. (c)
  5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts. (b)
  6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety. (b)
  7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of healthcare when otherwise unavailable. (c)
  8. Assure a competent public and personal healthcare workforce. (c)
  9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population-based health services. (a)
  10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems. (b)

  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP): 10 Essential Public Health Services." 

• Population health

  Population health refers to health outcomes for a group of individuals with a focus on achieving health equity and reducing health disparities within populations by addressing underlying social, environmental, cultural and geographic determinants of health.

• Global health

  Global health refers to population health in the global context with a focus on achieving health equity and reducing health disparities within worldwide populations by addressing underlying social determinants of health, particularly global geopolitical and economic development factors.